Ancient Greek Olympics and Women

Answer: Many of the victors were from Sparta. Sparta is 158 kilometers from Olympia.

Question: ancient olympic event

Answer: Foot racing, Chariot racing, Boxing, Wrestling.

Question: what is the greeks favorate food?

Answer: We would call it barbecued goat. They were also fond of fish.

Question: “Where did the Olympic Games come from?

Answer: Answer: The original idea may have come from a Spring fertility festival where the king and queen of the festival was determined by having two footraces, one for young men and the other for young women. The Ancient Greeks believed athletic contests were appropriate events at religioyus festivals. The word ‘Olympia’ may be of Indo-European origin. It may mean ‘destroyer of love’ from Indo European ‘ol-(e-)’, ‘to destroy” and ‘leubh-‘, ‘to love, like, care for’

Question: “Why were they held at olympia?”

Answer: Olympia was a religious site where an athletic event was held from early times.

Question: “Were there other contests like the Olympics?”

Answer: Yes. Athletic contests were popular at other religious festivals as well. There were the Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean Games.

Question: “Who could compete in the Olympics?”

Answer: Any Greek man, but not a boy. There was not a certain age but rather facial ;hair and number of teeth was used to determine elligibility.

Question: did women participate in the olympics if not what was there role in sports at this ancient time.

Answer: Yes they did. There was a separate event for women called the Herarea. But women did participate as horse breeders. In the horse races the breeder got the trophy and not the rider. One woman, Kallipateira, disguised herself as a man and performed as a trainer.

Question: What was the youngest age someone could compete in the Olympics when it was in Greece?

Answer: A boy of 12 is recorded as winning an event.

Question: What kind of role did women play in the Olympics such as what events did they participate in, what did they wear, what was the whole purpose of women in the Olympics ect.?

Answer: Women had a restricted role in the Olympics. They did participate in some of the chariot racing. They had their own athletic festival.

Question: Where can I find a picture of the woman Olympics and the goddess Hera?

Answer: Pelops was the son of Tantalus and the founder of dynasty with a porpoise as totem. The Peloponesus is named for him. He was one of the first to hold games in honor of Zeus. A number of myths are associated with him, but the most relevant seems to be the one that involved a chariot race to win his wife. See: Pausanias, 5.8.1 andIndex. Some think that this chariot race inspired the Olympics. Pelops was an early king of the area that included Olympia

Question: Why weren’t woman allowed to watch men do sport’s?

Answer: The Olympics was a festival for men only. The women had their own festivals. According to Pausanias 6.20.9 women were not always excluded. It is believed that some men brought a hetaera with them.

Question: what were considered the age divisions between boys and men? What were the age divisions for the women?

Answer: Since there were no birth certificates, ages were difficult to determine. It has been suggested that physical characteristics could have been used. This includes size, absence of milk teeth, presence of second molars, pubic hair, and facial hair. Girls also had age classifications of a similar sort.

Question: where, how and why were the ancient olympic games developed.

Answer: Athletics were performed partly as an exercise for war, but partly as a religious festival. Olympia was the location of a religious festival for Zeus. Homer records an athletic contest as a religious festival in the Iliad

Question: who got to sit down

Answer: The judges at Olympia had elevated seats they could use.

Question: who is zeus

Answer: Zeus is the main god of the Greek pantheon. He is the son of Cronos and Rhea and the father of numerous deities and humans. His realm is the heavens and atmosphere.

Question: What were the events, rules and prizes

Answer: The events:

Foot Races:

the stadion (or “stade”) race, a short sprint.

diaulos, or two-stade race.

the dolichos, a longer overland race.

the hoplitodromos, or “Hoplite race”, run in full armour.

boxing

wrestling

Pankration

chariot racing

pentathlon

Rules:

Any non-slave Greek could participate in the Panhellenic Olympics.

Any man who had committed a crime or stolen from a temple was barred from participation

Married women could not enter the Olympic stadium or attend the games, although young girls (virgins) and the priestess of Demeter Chamyne were welcomed.

Every athlete participating in the games had to arrive in Elis at least one month prior to the start of the games and remain in Elis to train under the watchful eye of the Elean judges until the games began.

Prizes included cash, bronze tripods, shields, woolen cloaks, olive oil, or almost anything else of material value. A number of vases survive which were given as prizes.

Answer: Mainly it was a religious festival for men only. But the women had their own festival where they ran in races. Later they participated in chariot races with the men.

Question: any thing for a projecet

Answer: Make a wreath or a prize jug. Organize a neighborhood olympics.

Question: were woman allowed to compete in the ancient olympic games

Answer: Not generally. Women had their own festival, the Herarea, where they competed in foot races. During the classical period they did participate in the chariot races.

Question: give me the names of the olympic cities?

Answer: Olympia was the site of the Olympic festival. Athletic contests were held in almost every city in ancient Greece.

Question: Do you have any black and white photos on the aincent Olympics?

Answer: Photography was developed in the last 200 years while the ancient Olympics began 2800 years ago and ended about 1600 years ago. There were no photographs made of the ancient Olympics. But ancient Greek artists were quite talented and there are many images that illustrate the ancient Olympics. Many underlined links which you can click on are given above.

Question: what was the importance of Spartas leadership of the Peloponnese?

Answer: Sparta had political allies, but this had little bearing on the Olympics. The Olympics were a religious event.

Question: Can you give us some facts about discus

Answer: Most competitive examples found weigh between 2 and 3 kilograms (Golden p.38) and was made of metal. It is a disc shaped object thrown for distance. The athlete whirls around several times before he releases it in a low angle to the ground. The discus is part of the pentathlon event.

Question: was archery in the ancient olympics?

Answer: No.

Question: was fencing a sport in the ancient olympics

Answer: No.

Question: how did the ancient olympics begin?

Answer: It was customary for the ancient Greeks to include athletic contests in their festivals and celebrations. Achilles calls for and athletic contest to celebrate the death of his friend Patroclus in book XXIII of the Iliad. The Olympics arose out of a festival for Zeus.

Question: What was the life of an athlete in the Ancient Greek Olympic Games like?

Answer: Early on the education in Greece started with athletic training and later broadened out to other, more formal skills. The school was called the gymnasium and the atheletes began their education there with a trainer. The trainer watched the athletes perform and if they misbehaved they were struck with a whip. This was symbolic as well as physical. When the student was old enough he could participate in the Olympics. The athletes arrived at Olympia a month early and participated in events much like they experienced at the Gymnasium.

Question: Pankration

Answer: This was a combat event in which competitors hit, kicked and grappled, upright or on the ground, without a break until one gave in or could not go on.

Question: Is there an event the Greeks did that would be suitable to do in a class presentation

Answer: The Penthalon was a five part event including the 200 meter foot race, wrestling, jump, discus, and javelin. This is probably the most suitable.

Question: What is a halter, the thing the Greeks had to hold when jumping

Answer: Many oxen destined for an oxroast were initially sacrificed to Zeus. But his is like saying that when we thank God for the blessing for our food that the food was provided for God. In most cases the Greek sacrifice of an animal was no different than our sending an animal to a butcher. After the sacrifice the meat of the animal was roasted and served up to a feast. Roast meat was a common food at festivals but much less common is a daily diet.

Question: What was the arena like where they competed.

Answer: The ancient and archaic stadiums are described at:Click here. Unlike modern stadiums which have an oval track arond an oval center the ancient stadium had an oval seating area around an oval space wih two posts and a fence in between. Sorter races were strait while longer wone involved turns around the posts

Question: who were the athletes in the first olympic games?

Answer: In 776 B.C. the Stadion was won by Koroibos from Elis.

Question: olympic coins, pins, or medallions

Answer: I do not find anything like this from ancient Greece.

Question: when where the first official olympics held

Answer: 776 BCE.

Question: why are the olympics held every four years

Answer: This may be for the same reason there are leap years every four years. The solar calendar can be corrected every four years by adding a day.

Question: why were the olympics held at Olympia

Answer: The Olympics were a religious festival held in a religious spot. The festival took the name of the place.

Question: where did the olympic start

Answer: Olympia, Greece (It is now called Ellas)

Question: here are three clues, 776BCE, horse and hammer, and white and red faced, what aspect of the early olympics do these three clues remind you of?

Answer: The prizes.

Question: what was the penalty for cheating at the olympics.

Answer: Judges carried a switch and if they could they beat the cheater with it. But they could also fine them or expell them from the games. The juddges could set the penalty.

Who started the Olympics?

Answer: Ancient Greeks. Some give the credit to Theban and Cretan Hercules. More credit goes to Pelops. But the most credit goes to Zeus, in whose honor the Olympics were originally held.

Question: four sports that hold in this game that still exsits now in olympic games

Answer: Footracing, wrestling, discus, javelin.

Question: who banned the ancient olympics and why did they do this

Answer: “The institution of the Olympic Games lasted for twelve continuous centuries and was abolished in 393 A.D. (the 293rd Olympiad) by order of Theodosios I when the functioning of all idol worshiping sanctuaries was forbidden, and in 426 A.D., during the reign of Theodosios II, the destruction of the Altian monuments followed.” From the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.

Question: what ties between the greek-city states, did the olympics bring?

Answer: Contestants came from all over Greece. In some cases hostilities stopped during the Olympics. It was one of the definitions of Greek culture.

Question: was the the discus event about

Answer: The discus is a metal object shaped much like a frisbee that weighed about 7 pounds. If thrown properly it would sail for quite a distance. The ancient Greeks used it as a weapon that was thrown over infantry at the enemy. To throw it properly you must whirl around several times in a quite graceful way and then release it. At the Olympics the discus is thrown for distance.

Question: What reward did an athlete receive if he placed second or third in the ancient Olympics?

Answer: In some cases every participant would receive an award which could be anything of value. But in general only the first place received anything.

Question: Why were the Olympics so important to the Greeks?

Answer: Victory was believed to be favor to the gods. The athletic contests were actually a form of religious worship.

Question: Did the winners receive medals?

Answer: No. They received wreaths and other prizes including vases. Their home town sometimes awarded them a pension.

Question: the ancient olympic games ended when the romans conquereed greece so what year did the greek olympics end?

Answer: No. The Romans conquered Greece in 194 BCE, but the Olympics did not end until 393 AD because the Romans wanted to end all non-Christian activities.

Question: When and what did the Greeks do in their first Olympics

Answer: The first Olympics was a footrace run in 776 BCE.

Question: how many people participated in the ancient olympics?

Answer: The stadium could hold 45,000 spectators.

Question: How often were the ancient olmpics?

Answer: Every four years.

Question: What kind of cheating or courpption was there at the olympics

Answer: Many different kinds including bribery and fixing of bets. But there were also scandals and investigation. Many were severely punished.

Question: What is greek

Answer: The modern country of Ellas occupies much of the territory of Ancient Greece, which was named by the Romans. What was ancient Greek was determined by customs, worship, language, ancestry, and location.

Question: How were the Olympics political?

Answer: Citystates attempted to manipulate the outcome of the Olympics with large amounts of money. Some competed to get the Olympics to be within thier boundaries.

Question: Women weren’t allowed to watch the ancient olympics, what was the penalty for watching?

Answer: They were to be thrown off Mt. Trypeum, but only one was ever caught and she was not punished.

Question: in the pankration, how long did noe match lst, on average?

Answer: The pankration could end quite quickly or take a long time. I have no information on the average time of one match.

Question: what was the olympic wreath made of?

Answer: Olive leaves.

Question: when where woman allowed to participate in the olympic games

Answer: Women were finally allowed to participate in the chariot races either as owners and drivers, but only in a limited sense. Euryleon of Sparta was the first woman victor in the third century BCE. But the women could not drive the chariots nor could they watch the race. All they could do was to own and train the horses.

Question: Do you have any information on the horse back riding during the ancient olympics?

Answer: The horse-race was added at the thirty-third Olympiad also. The rider was usually paid by the owner, just like in the tethrippon. In this race, however, the jockey rode bare-back on one horse. Women could own a horse but they could not even watch it race. The hippodrome, a space used for the horse races differed in size from place to place. An aristocratic event, the horse races comprised of various events and were conducted with horses, chariots and quadriga.

Question: THE GAMES WERE CANCELLED IN 1916 1940 and 1944 why

Answer: In Ancient times wars were cancelled because of the Olympics. In modern times the olympics were cancelled because of war.

Answer: The Eleusinian Mysteries were a series of cult practices associated with the worship of Demeter at Eleusis. The worship involved processions from Eleusis to Athens and back in the month of Boedromion (September). This process was supposed to guarantee a happy afterlife.

Question: what was the first year that women participated in the olimpics?

Answer: Cynisca, daughter and sister of Spartan kings, was the first woman to win at Olympia in 396 BCE.

Answer: There are pictures of ancient athletes, but not of the Olympics.

Question: Why were the olympic games held in Olympia.

Answer: The Olympic games were named after the place. They were held there because the place was sacred to Zeus. Olympia was dedicated to the worship of Zeus. The Olympic games were part of that worship.

Question: do you have any ideas for an essay title for the greek olypics

Answer: Music and dance were more important life skills for women than running. What were the competions in these areas? Or why not?

Question: What happened to those who lost at the ancient Games?

Answer: They failed to win a prize. Some were humiliated.

Question: wrestling

Answer: Their wrestling was a combat event in which competitors grappled until one threw the other to the ground.

Question: What was the origin of the pentathalon?

Answer: The Pentathalon was made up of various martial skills of the time.

Question: WHAT SPORTS DID THEY PLAY

Answer: Just individual contests. No team sports.

Question: How many were involved in the first Olympic games?

Answer: There was just one event in the first Olympic games, a foot race.

Question: What was some of the games the greek played for their celebrations!

Answer: The games the Greeks played were the athletic contests like those of the Olympics. They also had contests in other areas such as music, poetry, and drama.

Question: What type of exercises did the ancient greeks do in order to prepare for the olympics?

Answer: Mainly they practiced their particular skill. But there were often trainers to give them more specific instructions.

Question: most popular ancient olympic sport

Answer: probably the footrace since this is all the women did.

Question: How were the events of the games recorded?

Answer: The Greeks developed their own alphabet which they used to write records in their own language. This writing was made often in a book with wooden pages. The center of each page was an indentation filled with bees wax. The writing was made by marking the wax with a stylus. Sometimes writing was done on papyrus from Egypt but this was very expensive. Later, once when the supply of papyrus was gone the Greeks invented parchment to replace papyrus. What we have today on inscriptions in stone and others written on vases. A victor might go to his favorite temple and thank the deity there with an inscription.

Question: What are some of the differences between the status of victors in the Ancient and Modern Olympic Games?

Answer: The Modern Olympic Games has emphasized amateur atheletics, while the ancient athletes were more like our professionals. The ancient vitors were the heroes of their day.

Question: What was Running like in the Olympic

Answer: Similar to now except they started in a standing position.

Question: Ancient Greek Wrestling

Answer: It was very like the wrestling of the Olympics today. But there was also a sport called pankration which is more like the Oriental martial arts.

Question: how many different events were in the olympics?

Answer: At one time or another 23 different events.

Question: What was the even known as the Pankration like

Answer: Oriental martial arts. In fact the Pankration may have been taken east by Alexander.

Question: how long was the ancient olympic racetrack

Answer: The racetrack was one stadia long and therefore called the Stadium, Our word stadium comes from the length of that track. It was 607 feet long.

Question: Where there any priestesses in Ancient Greece who lived by a vow of chastity? I would alos like to know what their living quarters would have been like – where they attached to the temple? and where there any specific dress codes for high priestesses? Would a blue gown with a gold border have been appropriate? Also, where the priestesses ever chosen from families that were not necessarily influential in a `dali lama` kind of ritual?

Answer: Artemis liked chastity before marriage, but not after that. Temples are not found with living quarters, so they would have been separate. Priestesses seem to dress well, but I know of no code. Different goddesses did have different preferred colors. A blue gown would be acceptable if it were fine. It was an honor to be a priestess, but I do not know how they were chosen. The priestesses of Athena in Athens seem to have been chosen from aristocratic families.

Question: how do they cheat

Answer: Bribery was common enough.

Question: Was the oylmpic game, the javilen , first started in Rome oylmpics?

Answer: No. It was part of the Greek pentalathon

Question: Where can i find out about the history of Javelin throwing in the ancient oylmpics?

Answer: Homer uses two words for ‘javelin’, ‘αἰγανέη’ — hunting-spear, javelin Hom. Il. 2.774, Hom. Il. 16.589 and ‘ἄκων’ — javelin, dart Hom. Il. 10.335, Hom. Il. 12.306, Hom. Il. 15.282. These terms are used both in the context of war and sport. In this case it is natural that the javelin would be incorporated into the Olympics quite early. In fact it was included in the pentalathon in 708 BCE. The pentathalon for boys was attempted in 628 BCE but was immediately dropped. It is interesting that the javelin did not involve a throwing stick as was the case with most primative cultures. Perhaps this was because the bow and arrow were in use at this time. The javelin thrower was called an acontist – javelin thrower as is illustrated in Philadelphia MS403

Question: I was wondering what the olympic slogan of “perfect mind , perfect body” was in greek ?

Answer: A competitor must use only his upper body and attack only his opponent’s upper body ( the waist and above).

Question: what were the expactations of the competeators in the anicent greek olympics?

Answer: Honor, wealth, and the favor of the god Zeus.

Question: how many competetors were there in the 776 B.C. olympics

Answer: All that is known is that there was just one event – a footrace.

Question: Prodject Ideas For social class

Answer: How did the ancients manage to bring about peace during the olympics when we cannot do that in the modern period.

Question: What goddesses could be associated with the olymic games?

Answer: The olympic games were dedicated to Zeus, so Hera, his wife was sometimes associated. But Nike, the goddess of victory was frequently used in illustrations of athletic events.

Question: Can you give me information on how politics played a role in the acient greek olympic games?

Answer: Wars stopped and city-states payed their atheletes to participate. They also sued if they did not like the outcome.

An example of the politics of the Olympics is found in the Description of Greece of Pausanias 3.8.3:

“In the reign of Agis the son of Archidamus the Lacedaemonians had several grievances against the people of Elis, being especially exasperated because they were debarred from the Olympic games and the sanctuary at Olympia. So they dispatched a herald commanding the people of Elis to grant home-rule to Lepreum and to any other of their neighbors1 that were subject to them. The people of Elis replied that, when they saw the cities free that were neighbors of Sparta, they would without delay set free their own subjects; whereupon the Lacedaemonians under king Agis invaded the territory of Elis.

[4] On this occasion there occurred an earthquake, and the army retired home after advancing as far as Olympia and the Alpheus but in the next year Agis devastated the country and carried off most of the booty. Xenias, a man of Elis who was a personal friend of Agis and the state-friend2 of the Lacedaemonians, rose up with the rich citizens against the people but before Agis and his army could come to their aid, Thrasydaeus, who at this time championed the interests of the popular party at Elis, overthrew in battle Xenias and his followers and cast them out of the city.

[5] When Agis led back his army, he left behind Lysistratus, a Spartan, with a portion of his forces, along with the Elean refugees, that they might help the Lepreans to ravage the land. In the third year of the war3 the Lacedaemonians under Agis again prepared to invade the territory of Elis. So Thrasydaeus and the Eleans, reduced to dire extremities, agreed to forgo their supremacy over their neighbors, to dismantle the fortifications of their city, and to allow the Lacedaemonians to sacrifice to the god and to compete in the games at Olympia.

Another example of the politics of the Olympics is found in the Description of Greece of Pausanias 6.22.2:

“The people of Pisa brought of themselves disaster on their own heads by their hostility to the Eleans, and by their keenness to preside over the Olympic games instead of them.”

Question: Did the fans eat food during the events?

Answer: This seems very likely. The olympics had a festival atmosphere. Vendors came as they would to a county fair.

Answer: This was the first event at the ancient olympics and the only event for women.

Question: any information on Greek humanism

Answer: The Olympics were man centered but they were also spiritual and emphasized worship. Some Greek philosophers sought causes outside the realm of religion and so may have stimulated what became Humanism later. The Olympics probably did not encourage humanism.

Question: what people participated in the greek olympics games

Answer: Any Greek man. Greek boys that were very young were excluded.

Question: what major important role did the olympics play in greece

Answer: The olympics helped to define the Greek character.

Question: what things about the anncient olympics are the same as todays olympics?

Answer: both are held very four years and both consist of a series of events. The events of the pentathlon are five in number.

Question: how well did sparta do in the olympics

Answer: Because the Spartans emphasize athletics they did well in some events but their laws restricted their participation in others.

Question: WHY DID THEY PLAY WITHOUT ANY CLOTHES

Answer: It was part of the Greek identity. Some say it was a matter of safety because an athlete could be caught in the clothing of the day. Others think it related to the appreciation of beauty of the human body.

Question: can you tell me all you know about ancient greek horse riding?

Answer: The Amazons rode horses bareback. Horses were ridden but riders seem to have preferred the chariot. Horses were ridden more commonly at the time of Alexander the Great. There were horse races in the Olympics. Horses were expensive and difficult to maintain in ancient Greece so only the most wealthy owned them. Horses were not often used as draft animals. Pictures follow:

Question: Where do you get your information because a lot of it is incorrect. Women we not aloud to have anyhting to do with the Olympics. It was strickly for Men and Women did not have their own games.

Answer: Much can be found in the following book: Golden, Mark, Sport and Society in Ancient Greece, Cambridge University Press, 1998, ISBN 0 521 49790 6 paperback.

As to the matter of women’s own games: Pausanias, Description of Greece, 5.16.1 “Every fourth year there is woven for Hera a robe by the Sixteen women, and the same also hold games called Heraea. The games consist of foot-races for maidens. These are not all of the same age. The first to run are the youngest; after them come the next in age, and the last to run are the oldest of the maidens. They run in the following way: [3] their hair hangs down, a tunic reaches to a little above the knee, and they bare the right shoulder as far as the breast. These too have the Olympic stadium reserved for their games, but the course of the stadium is shortened for them by about one-sixth of its length. To the winning maidens they give crowns of olive and a portion of the cow sacrificed to Hera. They may also dedicate statues with their names inscribed upon them. Those who administer to the Sixteen are, like the presidents of the games, married women. [4] The games of the maidens too are traced back to ancient times;…”

There may be sentences that need revision, But you need to identify the sentence, identify the revision, and then back up your claim with a reference. This may seem like a lot of work, but it is required because I have put in a lot of work and want the page to be as accurate as possible.

Question: where di all of the athletes train/

Answer: All Olympic athletes were required to train on the Olympic site for about a month before the Olympic event.

Question: What did the First ancient olympic stadium look mlike

Answer: It was a dirt track with two turning posts. Dirt was pilled up in mounds at the edges so the spectators could get a good view.

Question: Can you give me information on an Ancient Greek Olympic game called the Long Jump

Answer: The ancient long jump was different from the modern one. Perhaps it was like the hop, skip and jump. They also used jumping weights. It was called “ἅλμα” by the Greeks and was part of the pentathlon (πενταέθλιον).

Question: did the greeks stop anything during the months of the games such as wars

Answer: Many things stopped, including wars.

Question: What soprt did people play in the acient olympic?

Answer: Talented athletic Greek men played in the Olympics.

Question: Milon

Answer: Milo of Crotona, 536 BCE, the wrestler. He won six victories at Olympia and was known for feats of strength.

Question: Who is mylon

Answer: Myron (f. 460-430 BCE) was one of the most famous sculptors of all time who sculpted the “Discus thrower” (Discobolus).

Question: what was the greek money called

Answer:

A talent of gold weighed 57 pounds and would be worth $250,000 today.

60 minas = 1 talent (1 mina = $4166.67)

100 drachmas = 1 mina (1 drachma = $41.67)

1 stater = 2 or 3 drachmas

6 obols = 1 drachma (1 obol = $6.94)

12 chalkoi = 1 obol (1 chalkoi = $.58)

Question: what was the original purpose the olympics were stared

Answer: The Olympics was a religious festival to honor the god Zeus.

Question: what was the order of the events in the Panathenaic festival?

Answer:

The red dance consisting of naked men with spear and shield who race chariots along and jump in and out of them.

A peplos is womven by honored ladies of the city.

Two small girls carry a basket with a secret burden through the city at night. They entered a cave and exchaged gifts. Elsewhere young girls left honeycake’s for snakes in a cave.

The peplos is paraded through the city on a mast on a cart.

Numerous animal sacrifices.

A ritual fire burning.

Question: What about snakes and the womens olympics?

Answer: Snakes were an important symbol of creativity and fertility.

Question: In the pentathalon how many of events did they have to complete out of five?

Answer: No one knows how the winner was determined.

Question: What’s the difference between “Heracles”and “Hercules”?

Answer: Herakles was his Greek name while Romans called him Hercules.

Question: what games did the men play in the gym?

Answer: A gymnasium was a facility used for training. The ancient Greek athletes trained in the gymnasium for the outdoor events of the Olympics.

“For they had refused to pay the fine which, according to Olympic law, the Eleans had imposed upon them, alleging that they had brought an armed force against the fortress of Phyrcus, and had introduced some hoplites of their own into Lepreum during the Olympic truce.” Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War5.49

Question: why were women banished from the games in the first place?

Answer: In many festivals in ancient Greece it was the custom for men to relate to the gods and women to relate to the goddesses. The Olympics was a festival for the male god Zeus.

Question: what is the meaning of the torch

Answer: The use of the torch in the Olympics comes from the spectacular torch races that were run at night during the ancient Olympics.

Question: When is the prize for winning

Answer: When the event was over the winner received an olive wreath.

Question: Why could only Greeks compete in the ancient olympics?

Answer: The Olympics were part of the Greek identity. It was a religious festival for the god Zeus.

Question: Do u have any male full body remakes of the early olympics? like no pots real people?

Question: Do you information on marathons in the ancient greek olympics?

Answer: There were no marathons in the ancient Olympics.

Question: who is the author. when was it written. what was the date when he wrote it. date written

Answer: Frederick John Kluth of Kent, Ohio last edited this page on 9-18-2010.

Question: What were the game official called?

Answer: Ἑλλᾱνοδίκαι — Hellanodikai (judges).

Question: Do you have any information on Kallipatera of Rhodes and when she lived and died.

Answer: Callipateira — She came to the Olympic games in 404 BCE. She entered the games disguised as a man and was discovered.

Question: Who was the 12 year old boy you mention who won the wrestling event?

Answer: Damiscus of Messene was 12 when he won the boys’ stadion in 368. (Golden, pg 105)

Question: How did you develop the interest and knowledge you have about the ancient Olympics? Are you Greek? Are you a professor?

Answer: I am an information technologist, with good resources, and good computer skills.

Question: Kallipatera is the woman you mention in your Q&A as being the only woman to have been caught and allowed to live after sneaking into the stadium as a man. She is as well-known to Greek kids as Goldilocks is to Americans. I’m interested in her life and death dates and her relatives (she was related to many Olympic champions, a legacy that allowed her to escape death). I’d appreciate anything you could find out, or even if you found a book or two to help me.

Answer: References:

Pausanias, Description of Greece, 5.6.1: [7] As you go from Scillus along the road to Olympia, before you cross the Alpheius,there is a mountain with high, precipitous cliffs. It is called Mount Typaeum. It is a law of Elis to cast down it any women who are caught present at the Olympic games, or even on the other side of the Alpheius, on the days prohibited to women. However, they say that no woman has been caught, except Callipateira only; some, however, give the lady the name of Pherenice and not Callipateira. [8] She, being a widow, disguised herself exactly like a gymnastic trainer, and brought her son to compete at Olympia. Peisirodus, for so her son was called, was victorious, and Callipateira, as she was jumping over the enclosure in which they keep the trainers shut up, bared her person. So her sex was discovered, but they let her go unpunished out of respect for her father, her brothers and her son, all of whom had been victorious at Olympia. But a law was passed that for the future trainers should strip before entering the arena.

Question: how did wrestling first come to be?

Answer: Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1.39.1: “After the graves of the Argives is the tomb of Alope, who, legend says, being mother of Hippothoon by Poseidon was on this spot put to death by her father Cercyon. He is said to have treated strangers wickedly, especially in wrestling with them against their will. So even to my day this place is called the Wrestling Ground of Cercyon, being a little way from the grave of Alope. Cercyon is said to have killed all those who tried a bout with him except Theseus, who out matched him mainly by his skill. For Theseus was the first to discover the art of wrestling, and through him afterwards was established the teaching of the art. Before him men used in wrestling only size and strength of body.”

Question:why did they hold the olympic’s every four years?

Answer: “…they were organized into festivals held every four years as a result of a peace agreement between the city-states of Elis and Pisa.” Brief History of the Olympic Games. The period may correspond to the leap year.

Question: How old would you have to be?

Answer: 11 or 12, but your age was probably not so important as your size or the state of your teeth as your teeth would indicate your age.

Question: what were the medals made of in ancient olympics

Answer: No metals. Olive wreaths were the awards. They were made of branches of a wild olive that grew in Olympia.

Question: who’s idea was it to start the olympics?

Answer: Perhaps the hero Heracles or the hero Pelops

Question: how many different types of medals were there?

Answer: The victor in any event received an olive wreath.

Question: WHAT IS ZUES’S(sic) RELATIONSHIP TO THE OTHER GODS AND GODESSES

Answer: Zeus is the main god, the king of gods, more powerful than all the other gods and godesses combined.

Answer: They were held 776 BCE until they were prohibited by the Romans in 394 AD, a span of 1170 years or 292 olympiads. As a result 293 ancient Olympics were held compared to only 26 in modern times. The Romans objected to the fact that it was a pagan religious festival.

Question: How long was the games

Answer: In the beginning the games were just one day. During its height it lasted five days.

Question: Did the WOmen of ancient Greece have their own set of Olympics.

Answer: Yes, the Herarea, about it read above, but it was not well documented.

Question: How do the buildings and other sites at Olympia show the different religious and secular of festival

Answer: Most of the buildings at Olympia are religious:

The first monumental temple to Zeus and Hera was built in the second half of the 7th century BCE.

The treasuries were built in the 6th century and 1st half of the 5th century. The held valuable votive offerings from the Greek colonies: Sicyon, Syracuse, Byzantion, Sybaris, Cyrene, Selinus, Metapontium, Megara and Gela.

At 470-456 B.C. the great temple of Zeus was built and housed the giant chryselephantine statue of Zeus (one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world).

Question: how was the ancient olympic torch lit?

Answer: In ancient Greece each community maintained a temple to Hestia where a fire was maintained always burning. There the torches would be lit that were handed to the runners in a torch race. The runners would then run to the temple of Zeus where the first one would start the fire at the altar of Zeus. This may have been done at night.

Question: What were the diffrent running events when the aincent(sic) olympics started

Answer: According to the earliest records, only one athletic event was held in the ancient Olympics–a foot race of about 183 m (200 yd), or the length of the stadium. A second race–twice the length of the stadium–was added in the 14th Olympics, and a still longer race was added to the next competition, four years later.

Question: What is the link between the Olympics and the discobolos by Myron?

Answer: The discus throw was part of an olympic event, the pentathalon. The sculpture probably celebrates the Olympics but the motive of the sculptor is not known. It is referenced in ancient times but the original by myron is lost. What exists are Roman copies.

Question: who invented the Olypics? Why?

Answer: Pausanias says Heracles did it to honor Zeus.

Question: how much cheating went on and what sorts of drugs, if any, did they use? thanks

Answer: Most of the cheating involved bribery, mainly of other contestants, but also of judges. The drugs of the time, alcohol and opium, were depressants that could be used on your opponents, but not on you.

Question: Were young boys allowed to watch the Ancient Oylmpiccs

Answer: Only young boys that were able to be without their mother.

Question: Has anyone done any illustrations of the greeks in the olympics that is not on pottery? If so can I see some?

Answer: What is wrong with pottery? The Discobulos by Myron is a sculpture of an athlete throwing a discus as was done at the Olympics. But it is not necessarily of an athlete at the Olympics. The images on the buildings at Olympia are images of Greek Myths. I do not know of any images of the ancient olympics.

Question: do you have any pictures of the red dance that is not on pottery? If so let me see some.

Answer: What is wrong with pottery? Here is a picture of naked men dancing on a vase which is close as I can get to your request: Click here

Answer: Five days of Olympics allowed several thousand athletes to perform and the stadium held almost forty thousand spectators.

Question: ancient greek wrestling: Its significance in the games…

Answer: It was a popular martial art exercise. ” As the men of war, aristocrats had finely smithed armor. It had been aristocratic youth alone who were given schooling, which was mainly military training: horsemanship, chariot racing, foot racing, the long-jump, throwing a discus and javelin, wrestling and boxing. Instruction included indoctrination about the ideal noble warrior. Choral music, dancing and playing the lyre were added to the curriculum in an attempt to instill in aristocratic youth the refinement that was supposed to be a part of their superiority. EUROPE, GREECE, AND PHILOSOPHY

Question: words of the oath

Answer: “…it is the custom for athletes, their fathers and their brothers, as well as their trainers, to swear an oath upon slices of boar’s flesh that in nothing will they sin against the Olympic games. The athletes take this further oath also, that for ten successive months they have strictly followed the regulations for training. An oath is also taken by those who examine the boys, or the foals entering for races, that they will decide fairly and without taking bribes, and that they will keep secret what they learn about a candidate, whether accepted or not.” (Pausanias 5.24.9ff)

Question: I have read your introduction on your Q & A page. It seems to me as if the competitors in the Olympics were performing their skill for fun and not for a prize, since the only prize was a wreath of olive leaves, a very commonn thing. Is this th proper conclusion? Does this signify the Greek way of life in that they appreciated everyone’s talents and not physical wealth?

Answer: The ancient Greeks did not compete just for fun. First of all it was a religious festival and they were strongly motivated to please the gods. Secondly, betting was common and they might be involved with this. Thirdly, they were often highly rewarded when they got back home for bringing honor to their community. There was as much stress on the ancient athlete as there is on the modern one, if not more. The ancient Greeks were very competitive and believed victory showed favor of the gods.

Question: Why do you run nacked

Answer: The athletes in the ancient Olympics ran naked so they would not be fouled by clothing, so they could not hide any tricks, and so thie sex was plain and that they were male participating in a festival for men dedicated to Zeus.

Question: what was the most famous ancient greek game

Answer: Probably chariot racing.

Question: why were the greek olympics a frontier?

Answer: This is not a good use of the word frontier. The Greek Olympics were an activity that helped to define the Greek character. Any Greek male could participate, and the nudity made non-Greeks uncomfortable participating.

Question: What were the other races in ancient greek that participated in the ancient Olympics?

Answer: During the ancient Greek period only Greeks participated in the Olympics. During the time of the Olympics there were a number of races that lived in the Greek area and formed part of the Greek culture. During the Roman period people came from all over the empire to participate.

Question: why did the ancient olympic games last so long after the the romans had corrupted it?

Answer: It was a profitable spectacle and the worship of Zeus continued. Even in Roman times travelers came from all over the Roman Empire to witness the games.

Question: Why were the Greeks so interested in physcial training?

Answer: It must be said that better warriors resulted but they seems to have been an appreciation for how physical training resulted in an idealization of the body form. To the Greeks this would have brought them closer to the divine. They also probably saw the connection betreen training and victory which showed divine favor.

Question: what happened to the people who won the events?

Answer: They often became rich and famous when they returned home.

Question: how old did you need to be to compete in the games?

Answer: Young boys were excluded, but not on the basis of age. Rather some physical charateristic was used such as the presence of pubic hair or certain kinds of teeth.

Answer: No, but during Roman times athletes from other countries did participate.

Question: Did the ancient greek olympics add more events each year until the modern olympics?

Answer: No, the ancient olympics ceased about 394 AD and the modern olympics did not start until 1896.

Question: why where the olympics held in olympia

Question: The olympics were a religious festival to honor the god Zeus. Olympia was the site of the temple of Zeus.

Question: do you have a picture of the greek collisium

Answer: The Greeks did not have a colliseum, they had a stadium. Olympia, Stadium.

Question: What was the impact of the Olympics on their lives and the influence on our society?

Answer: The Olympics helped to define the Greek identity. It also helped to produce fit warriors who were efficient fighters. Alexander used this ability to build an empire and spread Greek culture around the world.

Question: What were the name of some of the games they played? Can u please tell me how these games were played. (At least 4 games ) THANKS!

Answer: There were no team sports. All the competitions involved individual comparisons.

Question: why did they pour wine on oxen?

Answer: They poured wine out on the ground as a gift to one or more dieties. Wine was poured on roasted fat and meat so the vapor would be carried up to the deities in heaven. It also basted the meat and made it taste better.

Question: What is the Hippodrome

Answer: A stadium built especially for horse racing. In ancient Greece there awas a hippodrome at Delos, Delphi, Isthmia, Lykaion, Nemea, and Olympia.

Question: what was the messenger’s name in the acient greece Olympics?

Answer: Pheidippides was the messenger of the victory at Marathon 490 BCE whose feat gave rize to the modern marathon.

Question: Acient Athens Olympics?

Answer: The Panathenaia was a major festival which was celebrated in Athens in the Greek month of Hekatombaion between the 23rd and the 30th day. The festival was in honor of the birth of Athena. the Great Panathenea was celebrated every forth year and included horse racing, chariot racing, and a regatta.

Question: who created this event/

Answer: One tradition states that after the Greek hero Pelops won a chariot race against King Oenomaus to marry Oenomaus’s daughter Hippodamia, he established the Games.

Question: what were the ages that boys can compete in the olympic games

Answer: Rather than age some physical characteristic was used, such as the presence of 6 year molars, or pubic hair.

Question: how many athletes took part in the olympics

Answer: As many as they could fit in in five days of events. My guess is about 500 a day or 2500.

Answer: There were judges that strictly enforced the rules. Rule breakers were punished or excluded from competition. We know from what was prosecuted that bribing officials and atheletes was done because of the records of punishment.

Question: Show me pictures of how the sheilds the judges gave to the participants as prizes?

Answer: In the beginning it lasted just one day. At its height it was a five day event.

Answer: What was the chance a women could get into the Olmpics

Answer: Very poor. The Olympics were for men only. Only a very few women involved in horse racing were allowed to participate. The women had their own event, The Heraea.

Question: How many teams played

Answer: There were no team sports.

Question: What is a tunic?

Answer: Like a T-shirt that comes to mid-thigh in length. In Sophocles, Trachiniae, line 768. In Homer, Odyssey, line 434. The term seems to be Roman. The corresponding Greek term seems to be “χιτών”. Before classical times the chiton was made of two rectangles of cloth fastened at the shoulders and extending to the knees. Sleeves were added later, perhaps even during Roman times.

Question: Is it not true that poetry and music competitions were a many part of the first Olympics

Answer: The very first olympics in 776 BCE involved only running competitions. Poetry and music were incorporated later.

Question: Are there any pictures of pigeons who carried messages during the Olympic games?

Answer: The participants performed in the event to be the best in that event.

Question: I am currently doing my Dissertation in Sports and Exercise at Leeds Met University on Ergogenic aids. Could you please let me know if it was true that proir to the competition, ancient Greeks used to eat rams testicles as an ergogenic aid?

Answer: I cannot confirm or deny this but i do doubt it. Primitive logic suggests that if you want the power of the beast you eat the meat of the beast, the source of the power. What power does a ram have that an athlete would want and why would it be found in the testicles? It is possible that after extensive test of many thousands of sustances that the testicles were found to have this power, but such tests were unheard of in ancient times. Usually some secondary association would lead to the practice, which might happen to be beneficial. A heart shaped leaf would be given to someone with heart trouble, for example.

Question: If it was a close call how did the judges decide who won?

Answer: They voted. The priests could also pass on close decisions.

Question: Why is the role of women so?

Answer: Both men and women considered the role of childbearing to be very important.

Question: What kind of equiptment was used in the Ancient Olympics?

Answer: Discus, javelin, strigil, armor, starting gates. A strigil was a curved stick or metal object used to scrape oil off the athletes’s body.

Question: Ancient Greeks played footbll as an olypic game. What did they use as a football?

Answer: There were no team sports at the Olympics. But Greek youths did play with balls. These balls were probably made of skins or cloth stuffed with rags or fiber. A bouncing ball can be made by trimming a sponge and sewing cloth around it.

Answer: Milo of Crotona, 536 BCE, the wrestler. He won six victories at Olympia and was known for feats of strength.

Question: compare roles of palaestra & gymnasium of ancient greece

Answer: ‘παλαίστρα’ — ‘palaestra’ — this is a wrestling school. ‘γυμνάσιον’ — ‘gymnasium’ — this is a gymnastic school for learning bodily exercises. The name of the gymnasium is derived from the greek word for naked and since the idea of nakedness of athletes is most associated with the Olympics it may be associated with this festival. But just as the events at the Olympics expanded with time the topics covered at the gymnasium expanded with time. Even so both institutions are associated with moral development as the following quotes indicate:

Aristoph. Frogs 729 — “the citizens whom we know to be noble and virtuous, and righteous and true men of quality and trained in the palaestra and dancing and music”

Xen. Ages. 1.27 — And an inspiring sight it would have been to watch Agesilaus and all his soldiers behind him returning garlanded from the gymnasium and dedicating their garlands to Artemis. For where men reverence the gods, train themselves in warfare and practise obedience, there you surely find high hopes abounding.

Question: can you tell me about the anceint greek javelin competitions?????

Answer: The javelin is a light spear that is thrown for distance as a part of the Pentathlon. A thong is used to make the spear spin as it goes through the air. The javelin was also thrown at a target in some competitions. ‘javelin’ is a modern word perhpaps from French. The ancient Greeks used the word ‘ἄκοντα’ – ‘aconta’.

Question: where can i find a picture of the ancient Greek Heraea

Answer: I have found none and doubt that they exist because we know of the Heraea from just one source. There are a few pictures of women runners of ancient Greece. I have found no pictures of the ancient Olympics either.

Question: I need for a presentation the pictures and any other info on the 4 different Cotinus used to award the winners in the 4 major games (ie the Olympic, Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean Games).

Answer: Click here. Cotinus is from Greek and refers to the wild olive. The laurel wreath was used to crown victors at the Pythian games dating back to the 6th century BCE. At least until the 5th century BC (Pindar’s time) the winners of the Isthmian games received a wreath of celery. Likewise the Nemean games used a wreath of wild celery.

Question: other than olive oil what substance did the greeks rub on their body before starting a olympic race

Answer: Lanolin is a possibility, but oils can be gotten from a number of sources including nuts such as almonds. Animal fat is another possibility. Castor oil is ancient as is mineral oil. But olive oil is the only oil mentioned as used by the ancient athletes. It may have been used for religious purposes rather than health reasons. Olive oil was somestimes used as soap would later be used so it may be thought of as a cleaner.

Question: Who was Zeus?

Answer: Originally a weather god, he became the chief god of the ancient Greeks.

Question: what type of woman was considered beautiful…….could they be skinny or fat

Answer: You can tell what they thought was ideal beauty by studying pictures of goddesses like Hera and Aphrodite, who were supposed to be very beautiful. They are usually lightly proportioned and neither skinny or fat.

Question: I thought the first olympics were held so Jason could find a sutible crew, is that true?

Answer: It has been said that Jason developed the pentathlon for this purpose but I cannot find a quote in ancient literature to support it. The pentathlon was not supposed to have been part of the ancient Olympics but was added in 708 BCE.

Question: What are the religious aspects of the games?

Answer: The Olympics were a religious festival dedicated to Zeus. They were held on sacred ground, and included religious ceremonies.

Question: How many events/ games were there in the Olympics by the sixth century

Answer: Twelve.

Question: Did Hera have any thing to do with the women Olympics?

Answer: The women’s olympics, the Heraea, was a religious festival for Hera.

Question: What can you tell me about how the greek statues were made?

Answer: The statues of ancient Greece were direct carved into wood, Ivory, or stone. There were also metal statues made using the lost wax process. Some terracotta statues were made but they tended to be smaller. Many more wooden ones were carved than from the other materials but the statues have not stood the test of time and have rotted away.

Question: What and how do you play the Greek sport Discus?

Answer: The dicus is a round, flat stone that is thrown for distance. You are allowed to whirl around to give the stone more momentum before you release it.

Question: were nongreeks allowed to play at the ancient games?

Answer: Not Earlier, but later thy were.

Question: Was the running games an important event in the Greek Olympics?

Answer: Yes. And for quite a long time running was the only event.

Question: Who watched?

Answer: Spectators from all over Greece. We do not know if women were allowed to watch. Some women did watch in disguise.

Question: why were the ancient olympic games so important to the society?

Answer: They were a symbol of Greek national identity.

Question: Where can I find a picture of an event of the Olympic games with the participants at the stadium?

Answer: The Ancient Greeks did like to include architecture in their drawings so I cannot find any pictures like you request. But there are remains to stimulate your imagination:

Question: what are the religious, spiritual, and social aspects of the ancien t olympic games?

Answer: Athletic contests were often viewed in Ancient Greece as appropriate for religious festivals. They also viewed these as pleasing to the gods and spiritual in nature. This expressed the competitive nature of the society in general. The events provided a gathering for people who were greatly entertained. No doubt there was a lot of gambling. The winners usually obtained high status in their community and sometimes material rewards for winning.

Question: the pentathalon

Answer: This began as an event in the Ancient Olympics in 708 BCE. This was a five part event including the stadion (a footrace of the length of the ancient stadium), wrestling, jump, discus, and javelin. The winner of this event was considered an all around athlete. There is much debate over the sequence of the events and how the winner was chosen. And in many contests besides the olympics the prize for an individual competition might be worth much more than a prize for the pentathlon.

Question: Why did the ancient greeks use halteres?

The answer is not plain. The weights obviously gave the jumper extra momentum. But the competition would be just as important without them. They might be more important to a stationary jump than a running jump. Experiments with them have not been conclusive.

Question: ‘In the ancient Olympics, when athletes made a false start in an athletic event, what was done

Answer: They might be punished, perhaps with a beating.

Question: Were there any women in Greece that were in to swimmming?

Answer: Yes, but there were no Olympic competitions in this area in the ancient Olympics.

Question: what direction is Olympia from Atherns

Answer: Olympia is about 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of Athens.

Question: What does the statue of the Discus Thrower reveal about Greek values?

See Discus. See also Discobolus. The fact that such a sculpture was carved is a tribute to the value the ancient Greek society put on such activity depicted. The statue reveals a taste for grace and form in a nude male athlete. It also seems to support athletic involvement.

Question: what is the meaning of the olympic tourch?

Answer: Torch races were popular in ancient times because they were spectacular at night.

Question: What music did the Greeks play?

Answer: Music played on a lyre and an oulos seems likely. Polyphonic music seems unlikely. The sound may have been similar to current mid-east music because it had the sound of a cicada. See Eu’nomus. Recordings have been made which propose to reproduce the sound.

Question: what is a bard?

Answer: A bard is a person who composes and memorizes poetry with the intention of reciting it to tell stories about the culture in which he resides. Often this poetry is sung at a dinner party for entertainment. Often the bard is itinerant so as to carry his stories around the community. ‘bard’ is actually a Welsh term. It is related to the English word ‘grace’. Greek has no corresponding word. Aristotle discusses the difficuties at Aristot. Poet. 1447b. In Greek there is the word ‘ἐλεγειοποιός’ which means ‘elegiac poet’

Question:

----- Original Message -----
From: MindlessCrap.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2001 3:56 PM
Subject: Nudity in the Olympics
> I run a trivia Web site (www.mindlesscrap.com) and was asked the following
> question:
>
> "Why did the ancient Greeks participate in the Olympics naked?"
>
> Granted you've answered that question a few times on your Web page (in fact,
> you were the source of my answer...sorry about not crediting you). I'd like
> to know your sources since one of my visitors sent me two URLs with
> different answers than you.
>
> http://www.hickoksports.com/history/olancien.shtml
>
> http://www.upenn.edu/museum/Olympics/olympicorigins.html
>
> Thanks for your time. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
>
>
> Glenn Weintraub
> MindlessCrap.com

Mark Golden discusses this issue in “Sport and Society in Ancient Greece” pp 65 – 69. The fact is that it became customary. It was not done because the Greeks were homosexuals. Comments such as ones that I make about the fact that atheletes are easier to control are truisms that help understand why nudity may have become customary but cannot be proved. The fact is that it was customary and a part of the Greek identity. People who held other views were regarded as barbarian. Both the sites that you sent contain reliable information. I do not consider them to be in conflict with what I said.

Question: What are three events from the ancient Olympic Games that are still performed today and what are the differences then and now in style and operation?

Answer: Both have footraces, wrestling, discus, and javelin. In the footraces the start is quite different. Wrestling has different rules. Unfortunately, in most cases there is not enough information to make a detailed comparison.

Question: The Modern Olympics?

Answer: The Olympic Games owe their modern revival almost entirely to the French aristocrat Baron Pierre de Coubertin. His single-minded, persistent efforts, which overcame many obstacles, led to the first modern Olympic Games held in Athens in 1896. Coubertin was inspired by archaeological explorations of ancient Greece, particularly at ancient Olympia. He pressed for the revival of the ancient Olympic Games and won support for launching a modern Olympic Festival. Coubertin believed in the importance of physical education and saw the advantages of restoring the Olympic Games as an international event promoting world peace.

Question: Did the physical skills and activities of those days meet the needs of society then?

Answer: The standard of living in ancient Greece was quite high, higher than for most people living today. In fact it was so high that a fair amout of our lives today are totally dependent on what they accomplished. We are receiving the fruits of their efforts. And many people today are just squandering them.

Question: What were the important skills that young boys and girls had to learn

Answer: Boys learned writing, music, and gymnastics. Writing included reading, writing, arithmetic, and literature. Music included lyric poetry. Girls could be taught the same subjects but were more often taught domestics by their mother. Schools for girls were rare but when they existed they usually taught music, chorus, and dancing.

Question: Was there any drug taking in the Ancient Olympic Games

Answer: The ancient Greeks did have drugs, but the powerful ones such as alcohol and opium are depressants. Performance enhancing drugs are much more recent, so they had no effect on the ancient Olympics.

Question: disscus how attitudes changed as the beliefs of society and rulers changed between 776 b.c and 500a.d

Answer: The topic of this site only extends to 125 BCE. Interestingly the period of your interest extends 1276 years from the end of one dark age to the beginning of another. The religion changes in Greece from polytheism to Christianity. Government changes from local communalism to national totalitarianism. In fact it is a time of great change and an adequate discussion of the changes would require many thousands of pages. Ancient Greece tried many forms of government. Rome put an end to all of them.

Question: why were the olympic games important?

Answer:

The ancient Olympic games were a model for the modern ones.

This formed part of the Greek national identity.

It was an example of competition that was not war.

It was an important religious festival

It encouraged fitness and good health.

Question: Can i have a map where it shows me where the ancient olympics were held?

Question: What is the meaning of the Torch Lighting Ceremony and what is it meant to communicate?

Answer: The torch relay in ancient Greece known as “lampadiodromia” from the word “lampas” (torch), was at once a religious ritual and an athletic event. The end of the race was always an altar.

“CV. While still in the city, the generals first sent to Sparta the herald Philippides, an Athenian and a long-distance runner who made that his calling. As Philippides himself said when he brought the message to the Athenians, when he was in the Parthenian mountain above Tegea he encountered Pan. [2] Pan called out Philippides’ name and bade him ask the Athenians why they paid him no attention, though he was of goodwill to the Athenians, had often been of service to them, and would be in the future. [3] The Athenians believed that these things were true, and when they became prosperous they established a sacred precinct of Pan beneath the Acropolis. Ever since that message they propitiate him with annual sacrifices and a torch-race.” Herodotus, The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley) 6.105.1

The first rider delivers his charge to the second, the second to the third, and thence it passes on from hand to hand, even as in the Greek torch-bearers’ race in honor of Hephaestus. (1.00) Herodotus, The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley) book 8, chapter 98, section 2

The torch race arose from the custom of transmitting a new and sacred fire from the altar to hearths polluted by death or the enemy’s presence (). (1.00) W. W. How, J. Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus book 8, chapter 98, section 2

Question: Did the Greeks wear laurel wreaths on their head too? What does the laurel wreath symbolize?

Answer: Victor’s wreaths, known as stephanos, were given to the winners of Greek athletic competitions. Each of their major competitions was dedicated to a particular god whose sacred plant was used to create the stephanos for that event. For example: the winner of the Pythian games, dedicated to Apollo, received the laurel crown and the winner of the Isthmian games was rewarded with the pine crown of Poseidon. At Olympia the olive wreath was used.

Question: disscus how attitudes changed as the beliefs of society and rulers changed between 776 b.c and 500a.d

Answer: The topic of this site only extends to 125 BCE in Greece. Interestingly the period of your interest extends 1276 years from the end of one dark age to the beginning of another. In Europe religion changed from polytheism to Trinitarianism. Governments changed from communal to totalitarianism with almost everything in between. But there were many changes. A book thousands of pages long would be required.

Question: What were the rules for armour racing in the Ancient Olympics?

Answer: I only know that the participants raced in full armour up and down the stadium.

Question: where there rules

Answer: Yes, but generally we do not know what they were.

Question: how did sparta participate in this event ?

Answer: First Sparta was one of the original founders of the Truce that allowed the Olympics to remain independent of political conflicts. Second Sparta sent many fine athletes to the games. There were some restrictions on their participation, however. At the very least Sparta was sometimes punished for violating the terms of the truce. When Sparta was allowed to participate numerous victories resulted for the Spartans.

Question: What were the political aspects of the Olympics of 776 BCE?

Answer: At first it was a religious festival.

Question: . I asked if there what the political aspects of the 776 BCE Olympics were. You said it was a religious festival at first. I understand that it was a religious festival to honor Zeus or, to put it plainly, this other guy that defeated a king and won his daughter (sorry, I don’t have my notes with me). But were there any political aspects to these Olympics? A friend of mine told me that city-states’ leaders met at the Olympics and discussed peace treaties, trades, etc… I’m not sure how reliable her information was. I know that all wars were suspended for the Blympics, but I’ve never read that leaders met and talked about issues at the Olympics. Did this ever occur? If so, did it occur in 776 BCE? Any help or insight you can give me into the political aspects (if any) of the 776 BCE Olympics would be greatly appreciated

Answer: Dates before 600 BCE are hard to establish. Political records are also hard to find. It is difficult to know what the political situation was in 776 BCE. The history of the Pisatae consists of their struggle with the Eleans, with whom they contended for the presidency of the Olympic Games. The Pisatae obtained this honour in the eighth Olympiad (B.C. 748), with the assistance of Phidon, tyrant of Argos, and also a second time in the thirty-fourth Olympiad (B.C. 644), by means of their own king Pantaleon. In the fifty-second Olympiad (B.C. 572) the struggle between the two peoples was brought to a close by the conquest and destruction of Pisa by the Eleans.” Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

“As an oracle had declared to Oenomaüs that he should be killed by his son-in-law, he refused giving his daughter Hippodamia in marriage to any one. But since many suitors appeared, Oenomaüs declared that he would bestow her hand upon the man who should conquer him in the chariot-race, but that he should kill all who were defeated by him. Among other suitors Pelops also presented himself; but when he saw the heads of his conquered predecessors stuck up above the door of Oenomaüs he was seized with fear, and endeavoured to gain the favour of Myrtilus, the charioteer of Oenomaüs, promising him half the kingdom if he would assist him in conquering his master. Myrtilus agreed, and drew out the linchpins of the chariot of Oenomaüs. In the race the chariot of Oenomaüs broke down, and he was thrown out and killed. Thus Hippodamia became the wife of Pelops. But as Pelops had now gained his object, he was unwilling to keep faith with Myrtilus; and accordingly, as they were driving along a cliff, he threw Myrtilus into the sea. As Myrtilus sank he cursed Pelops and [p. 1196] his whole race. Pelops returned with Hippodamia to Pisa in Elis, and soon also made himself master of Olympia, where he restored the Olympian Games with greater splendour than they had ever been celebrated before.” Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898

Because Olympia was a sacred area it was certainly used for binding oaths and other agreements.

Question: what could i use for a thesis about the greek olympics?

Answer: The relation between the olympics and politics. There also may be a relation between the Olympics and ancient education.

Question: What was the purpose of the olympics?

Answer: The Olympics was a religious ceremony honoring the God Zeus.

Question: what kind of instruments were played at the ancient greek olymppics

Answer: Trumpeting was actually a competition at the Olympics.

Question: who are the gods and goddesses of track

Answer: No one. The atheletic events were religious celebrations that were held for most of the divinities. Nike was most associated with all of the celebrations since she was the goddes of victory.

Question: Did the people from Sparta ever play any games other than in the Olymics?

Answer: Yes they did. Olympic games were entirely athletic competitions pitting one athlete against one or more other athletes with the best performing athletes being declared the winner. There were also team games, board games, and games of chance. Specifically there was a wrestling activity involving dragging a person over a line which was likely played in Sparta.

Information: this isnt a question but it is information im in the 7th grade and im studying about what this site is talking about and yes wars were stopped and if they werent stopped there was a fine.

Question: olimpic victors statues

Answer: These statues were set up in the Altis at Olympia. A number of bases of statues have been found in this location with footprints fo bronze statues. A description of these are found in Pausanias Description of Greece 6.1.1. The Romans copied many Greek statues and Statue of Diadoumenos may be a copy of one of these.

Question: Here’s a quote from the American Humanist website. Is this man’s claim true? Email me personally if you don’t want to post this. “For example, in the ancient Olympic games, competition included not only athletics but drama, music, poetry, and philosophy. And the whole combination was viewed as religious event. The Greeks put it together and did it all. So can we.”

Answer: The ancient Greeks were very competitive and enjoyed their involvement in competitions so the statement is approximately true. I cannot verify competitions in poetry and philosophy, but the Olympics did include trumpets. The Dionysia in Athens included the drama contests. The religiosity of this event may not be repeatable in modern times. Humanism does have strong roots in Greek culture so the statement is understandable.

Question: How did Olympics get its name?

Answer: Olympia had been a religious site for centuries when the athletic contests started there in honor of Zeus. The Olympics get their name from Olympia, the location of the games. The meaning of the word ‘Olympia’ is unknown. It is related to “Olympus’ the name for the Greek pantheon. When the ancestors of the Greeks arrived in Greece they met cultures already living in Greece who had already named many geographic features. Some of the names may come from the Minoan culture. The nature of the Minoan language is still a mystery.”

Question: How long did the first olmpics last?

Answer: After an initial period of practice and purification, the actual athletic event lasted less than one day.

Question:

Answer: During the first Olympic Games in 776 BCE, young boys raced 200 yards to win the privilege of lighting the sacrificial altar fire honoring the Greek god Zeus.

Question: is this site copy written, cause if it isnt u should get it done cause its got some useful info and could be used as a reference

Answer: This site is copyright 1997,1998,1991,2000,2001,2010. Thanks.

Question: what happened if two city-states were at war during the olympics

Answer: The Olympic governing body would take action against any athletes that these cities sent. They might be fined, excluded, or both. In some cases action was taken against the cities themselves with varying results.

Question: What happened to people who broke the oath that they took at the beginning of the games?

Answer: Punishments included being beaten, fined, or excluded from the games.

Question: How, when and where were the winners crowned?

Answer: There is conflicting data dealing with when the wreaths were presented to the athletes and where the ceremonies took place. One version states that the athletes were crowned immediately following their contest, similar to medal ceremonies in the modern games. Another version is that after the contest, the victor was given a ribbon to be tied around their head. This would be a temporary prize until the end of the games, when the winners would all be awarded at the same ceremony in the Temple of Zeus. (Swaddling, 1984) Swaddling, J. (1984). The ancient Olympic Games. Austin: University of Texas Press

Question: Did the torch exist in that time?

Answer: Yes. Lamps and torches provided most of the night lighting. For outdoor activities at night torches and bonfires were the major artificial source of light. Lamps were made of fired clay. A wick was placed so it sat in a pull of fat or oil.

Question: How were the games in the pentathlon played?

Answer: In ancient Greece the pentathlon consisted of javelin, discus, running, jumping, and wrestling, but know one knows what a competitor did to win.

Question: In what ways did the orignal Olympic games fulfill the greek ideal of perfection?

Answer: Only the best athletes won the events.

Question: What is an Olympiad?

Answer: The ancient Greeks reckoned dates in terms of of the four year interval between the Olympic games. This four year interval is the Olympiad.

Question: in the ancient olympics how many times did someone have to win to get a statue in there name?

Answer: There never was a rule about this. In fact they preferred statues of gods and not athletes.

Young Spartans Exercising This painting is found at The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN

Question: Which greek athlete now has a famous statue in his name?

Answer: A statue of the athlete Agias of Pharsalos, a Pancration champion, by Lysippus (c. 370-300 BC) Sculptor from Sicyon is in the museum at Delphi Greece.

Question: How did boxing celebrate an aspect of Greek religion?

Answer: The ancient Greeks thought athletics were suitable activities for a religious festival. They probably had the idea that the blood shed in competition was a blood sacrifice.

Question: What punishments did women recieve for watching the Olympic Games?

Answer: They were supposed to be thrown over a cliff but nobody ever was.

Question: how the olympics changed culture and value of greece

Answer: The Olympics did not change the culture and values of the Greeks; rather they preserved them. They were part of the cultural identity of the Greeks that helped them to accomplish so much. The hope is the the Olympics will change our culture and values.

Question: how did the olympics go about?

Answer:

Athletes traveled to Olympia for a month of training and purification.

A religious ceremony was held the day of the events.

The events were held.

The Atheles returned home

Question: Did the ancient Greeks play in packs or indenpently

Answer: All the ancient Olympic events were individual. The ancient Spartans did play some team sports.

Question: which olympiad was the pentathlon added in? and ancient athletes competed as _________ not as members of a national team?

Answer: The pentathalon was added in 708 BCE. The contestants were athletes. Athlete is from the Greek word for contestant.

Question: what words were spoken to start ancient olympic games

Answer: The oaths taken on the first day are not known. Races were started with a starting gate rather than words.

Question: Did religion play a part in the orgin of the Olympic Games?

Answer: The ancient Olympics started as a religious celebration to honor Zeus. They continued this way for a thousand years. The Olympics were stopped when the Emperor decreed an end to all pagan religious celebrations.

Question: How did the atheletes train for the Olmpics?

Answer: “Every athlete participating in the games had to arrive in Elis at least one month prior to the start of the games and remain in Elis to train under the watchful eye of the Elean judges until the games began. Unlike in the modern games, in which Olympic trials determine who competes in Olympic competition, the month prior to the start of the ancient games served as a weeding-out period in which the judges selected who would and would not participate, based on each aspirant’s level of training. During this period, the judges also divided athletes into age groups.” Reference

“We have graphic record of the training from vases. The athletes started training as children and competed between the ages of 16 and 24. The athlete trained under the guidance of an older trainer. The trainer was considered very important. The trainer accompanied the athlete to the games and oversaw all preparations for the games. There are also indications that the trainers were also present at the awarding of the prizes.” reference

Question: How do acient games compare wtih modern Olympics in regards to purpose, events, prestige and awards?

Answer: The Ancient Games were a religious event. The events were all individual competitions; there were no team events. There was enormous prestige involved. At the games only wreaths were awarded, but when the athletes arrived home they received more valuable prizes.

Question: What do the five rings mean?

Answer: According to most accounts, the rings were adopted by Baron Pierre de Coubertin (founder of the modern Olympic Movement) in 1913 after he saw a similar design on an artifact from ancient Greece. The five rings represent the five major regions of the world: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. Every national flag in the world includes at least one of the five colors, which are (from left to right) blue, yellow, black, green, and red. It is important to emphasize that Pierre de Coubertin never said nor wrote that the colors of the rings were linked with the different continents.

Question: why were the women not allowed to see the men? Was it forbidden?

Answer: It was a religious festival for men only. Women had their own festivals. And there were festivals for both sexes.

Question: Why was Demeter allowed to watch the Olympic games?

Answer: Mortal laws and rules only apply to mortals. Immortals are subject to divine laws only. Zeus, Styx, Themis, Dike, and the Fates are responsible for divine law. Any of the goddesses could have watched the Olympics due to their divine power. It was the priestess of Demeter that was allowed to watch the Olympics. Pausanias, Description of Greece mentions this.

Question: Did woman have to compete in nude?

Answer: Not in the Olympics becuase they could not be present. But they did have to at Sparta.

Question: were women athletes well respected in the acient olympics

Answer: They wer respected but excluded.

Question: Did woman rasal and if did they do it naked

Answer: Women could not participate in the Olympics. Some probably snuck in clothed to hide their sex. Women had their own festival, the Heraea, where the raced in tunics. But the Spartan girls raced naked in front of the boys. Atalanta wrestled Peleus but she is always pictured clothed.

Question: are there any sports that we don’t play now

Answer: Yes, several.

Question: who was the first women ever to win an event in the ancient olympics??

Answer: The only events women ever entered were horse racing and this is because the owner entered but did not race. Cynisca was the first woman breeder of horses and the first woman champion. She was a wealthy Spartan who lived in the fourth century BCE.

Question: How long were the whole olympic games ?

Answer: In the beginning they were just one day but they stretched out to as long as five days.

Question: How many games were played in the ancient greek olympics?

Answer: There were 23 different events.

Question: why werent the women nude? and did they allow men spectators? if not why ?

Answer: There is only one reference to the Heraea about the women’s races and it does not give these details. But at Sparta the women performed their athletics in the nude and the young men were encouraged to be spectators. But they were excluded from participation in the Olympics.

Question: whatdoes BCE mean

Answer: Before the Common Era and refers to years before O in the current calendar.

Question: I was told that the five rings created by Baron Pierre de Coubertin were created from an artifact that he saw from the original olympic games (this from the US Olympic Web Site). Is this true, and if so, what did the original symbol look like? Second, you mentioned a full armour race, how much weight would you estimate full armour to be, dependent upon the city-state? Last, you mentioned that fencing was not an original olympic sport, but was rather started in the 1894 olympics. Was there a similar olympic sport that would simulate combat?

Answer: For his design, Pier de Coubertin the founder of the modern Olympics, chose a five-ring symbol that came from an altar-stone discovered at Delphi, Greece

The Paris congress in 1914 was so taken with the design that they adopted it as the official flag of the Olympic movement, and it made its debut at the 1920 games in Antwerp, Belgium.

Check out: “Five Golden Rings” Matthew 17:1-9. There is also Miyamoto Mushashi, A Book of Five Rings. Things of five. I cannot identify the artefact.

Information about details of ancient events is very sketchy. My guess would be 50 pounds. The ancient sport that best simulated combat was pancratic wrestling, but it should be noted that many of the events were combat related.

Question: why did the greeks use goats?

Answer: Raising of goats was very suited to the terrain and climate of Greece.

Question: what was the relationship of the humans to their ancient greek gods

Answer: This is the subject of the works of Homer, Hesiod, and many other ancient Greeks authors. The ancient Greeks thought they lived in a world that the gods had control of. When they needed some control of the world they turned to the gods to try to influence them. If they were successful the world became a little easier to live in. In general their worship was a way of getting the gods to do them favors. Some humans were thought to be descended from the gods.

Question: When was Hercules born?

Answer: He was in the same generation as Agamemnon, Helen, and Theseus but died before the Trojan war.

Question: Why wernt woman aloud to exit the house?

Answer: Women were safer in their homes and did not want to go out. It was a matter of custom and not law. Higher class women stayed in their homes. Lower class women were more likely to go out. Some women went out with a veil which they referred to as their ‘roof’.

Answer: The ancient Greeks put men and women in separate worlds. This was a separation that both sexes accepted. In the myth there are contests of men an women. These included:

Athena competed with Poseidon for Athens

Herakles competed against the Amazons

Theseus competed against the Amazons

Atalanta wrestled Peleus

Atalanta participated in the Colydonian boar hunt

Atalant raced Meilanion

Question: how were acient coins made?

Answer: Coins have always been made in the same way. Two round dies are made from a hard metal each for one side of the coin. Both round dies fit snugly into a hole in a plate. The hole is the diameter of the finished coin. A blank piece of soft metal is placed betwee the dies and surrounded by the hole. The dies are then pounded with a heavy hammer until the coin is formed.

Question: Did the women play any role at all in the Ancient Greek Olympics?

Answer: There was a priestess and virgins that served a religious ceremonial function. Mothers formed a supportive function for their sons as the story of Kallipatera indicates. Myths of Spata indicate that girls may have inspired the young athletes. Hetaera may have entetained athletes, patrons and visitors. There may have been women spectators. a few women bred and raised horses that were used in the Olympics.

Question: When you say 4th century BCE, do you mean 300BCE or 500BCE?

Answer: 300-399 BCE.

Question: were there ever women that were in the olimpics instead of a man doing a men’s job?

Answer:

Atalanta wrestled with a man, Peleus. This was before the official start of the Olympics.

Kallipatera disguised heself as a man and trained her son.

Cynisca bred and raced horces.

Question: Were the Olympics important to Greek lives.

Answer: Yes. This was and important part of their cultural identity and civic pride.

Question: What is discis

Answer: Discus — a flat disc weiging about 5 pounds that was thrown for distance. In war the discus was thrown over the heads of the hoplites to cause damage to an approaching enemy.

Question: what were the beleifs of the ancient greek?

Answer: The ancient Greeks were intelligent, motivated, educated, and literary and as a result held many beliefs, and many of these are worthy of study today. All of them cannot be listed here but I can list a sample:

The universe was organized according to many gods and goddesses act according to laws they set.

They believed that actions had causes which could be undestood.

Atheletic events performed by nude athletes were pleasing to the deities.

They believed that there were sites such as Olympus which were particularly holy and so they held their sacred games there in honor of their main god Zeus.

They believed women should participate in their own games but at the temple of Hera, the wife of Zeus. This festival was called the Heraea.

They believed the games were so holy that wars should stop when the games were played.

Question: why they built the stutue of zues to represent the olympic, how the statue of olympic is selected to become the seven wonder of the ancient world.

Answer: Olympia was a district sacred to Zeus and the Olympic festival was sacred to Zeus. The ancients thought a grand statue of Zeus would be pleasing to Zeus and would influence him to favor Greece in his actions.

The first reference to the idea of wonders of the world is found in History of Herodotus as long ago as the 5th century BC. Callimachus of Cyrene (305BC-240BC), Chief Librarian of the Alexandria Mouseion, wrote “A Collection of Wonders around the World” but only the title remains to us. The work was destroyed with the Library of Alexandria. A definitive list was not produced until the Middle Ages.

Question: why arent women nude?

Answer: Women were nude. Atalanta raced nude and the women of Sparta performed in the nude. The women had their own event, the Heraea, but they raced in tunics there.

Question: What prizes did the Olympic victors get for Discus?

Answer: The prize was called the “Athlon” and was a head-wreath of cotinus, that is to say a branch of wild olive that was growing next to the opisthodomus of the temple of Zeus in the sacred Altis. Only the best performer received the wreath. Often other prizes awaited them when they got home.

Question: what is the schedule for the ancient greek olympics?

Answer: Games lasted five days and that the first and the last were devoted to rituals and to sacrifices, then the three days in between remained for the contests.

First Day: Ceremonies and sacrifices of inauguration. The contest of the trumpeters.

Second Day: The contests for youths, with the following order: Stadium length sprint, wrestling, boxing, pentathlon (but it is said that this took place only once during the 37th Olympiad), the pankration and the horse race (though such an event did not exist).

Third Day: Events for men with the following order: The stadium length sprint, the diaulos, the dolichos, wrestling, boxing, pankration.

Answer: Many. City-states agued for control of the Olympic space. There were also violations of the Olympic truce.

Question: what are the rules for wrestling

Answer: We know hardly any of the rules for any of the sports.

Question: what has kept the olympics going

Answer: For 1000 years it was a religious festival for the ancient Greeks. It was stopped by a Roman emperor because it was a pagan religious festival. But in the 19th century it was started again when its universality was recognized. It was hoped that it would be a force for world peace and understanding. But in the 20th century two world wars were fought. It is possible that the Olympics helped but the hope now is to reduce wars in the future. Only the next 98 years will tell if the 21st century will be better than the 20th. The Olympics were more helpful for the ancient Greeks than they have been to us so far.

Question: were there other contestss like the olympics

Answer: Yes there were. The Heraea was held at Olympia and was for women runners. The Panathenea was held at Athens. There were also festivals at Nemea, Delphi, and Isthmia. These last three formed a cycle with Olympia so there were games every year. It was common for athletic events to accompany religious festivals.

Question: What kinds of cheating took place and what were the punishments?

Answer: We really do not know what the rules were so it is hard to know the kind of cheating. Punishments included switching, fines, and exclusion.

Question: how were the Hellenodikai chosen? and what preperations were made and also who were the heralds? the importance of the games began with the leadership of sparta in the peloponnes? can u please give me info about that?

Sparta and the OlympicsSparta was a close neighbor of Olympia and the values of the Olympics fitted will with the values of Sparta.

Question: Were the athletes forced to compete?

Answer: Not at all. These were religious events and it was an honor to compete. Ancient Greeks participated in athletic events spontaneously. But there may have been events in the Minoan civilization where there was forced competition. Seven boys and seven girls were sent as sacrifice victims from Athens to Knossos where they were to be fed to the Minotaur. This is often interpreted as meaning that they were put into a bull ring with a bull. They lept out of the way of the bull until they were eventually gored and became sacrifice victims. Theseus went as one of the boys and was able to destroy the Minotaur. This is interpreted as meaning that through his might he was able to destroy the practice.

Question: I have to do coursework on the Olympian view of the Games, can you tell me the main facts I need to know, events, clothing, reasons,etc.

Answer: Mt. Olympus is in the far north of Greece near the Aegean sea. Olympia is in the west of the Peloponnese. Mt. Olympus is the home of the Olympian Gods while Olympia is a religious district and site of the games dedicated to Zeus. The Olympian view of the games could be interpreted as what the Olympian gods saw. The ancient Greeks did, indeed, think the gods looked down from Olympus and saw the games. And they believed that the gods and goddesses liked what they saw. The primary motive of the games was the favor of the gods and goddesses in this way. The divinities were believed to attend the games in person but they were disguised. They would not appear in all their radience, but would appear as a participant or a spectator. That the participants were nude men was not a problem even for a goddess who could appear even in this guise. The divinities were also believed to spectate in the guise of birds who would fly over the events. Even the divinities who did not attend the events knew of the results because of the perfect knowledge of the divinities.

Question: If the athletes competed one year would they be forced to compete four years later?

Answer: No.

Question: Women in the Olympics?

Answer:

Atalanta wrestled with a man, Peleus just before the Trojan war.

Kallipatera (Kallipateira) disguised heself as a man and trained her son. She lived during the fifth century BCE.

Cynisca, the daughter of King Archidamus of Sparta and sister of Agesilaus, owned horses which won the chariot race in 396 and 392 BCE.

Belistiche, a woman from the coast of Macedonia, won with the pair of foals … at the hundred and twenty-ninth Olympics.”

Question: Can you give me more infomation on the womens version of the Olympic Games, where, when,why,etc.

Answer: Pausanias, Description of Greece5.16.2. What follows is all there is.

[2] Every fourth year there is woven for Hera a robe by the Sixteen women, and the same also hold games called Heraea. The games consist of foot-races for maidens. These are not all of the same age. The first to run are the youngest; after them come the next in age, and the last to run are the oldest of the maidens. They run in the following way:

[3] their hair hangs down, a tunic reaches to a little above the knee, and they bare the right shoulder as far as the breast. These too have the Olympic stadium reserved for their games, but the course of the stadium is shortened for them by about one-sixth of its length. To the winning maidens they give crowns of olive and a portion of the cow sacrificed to Hera. They may also dedicate statues with their names inscribed upon them. Those who administer to the Sixteen are, like the presidents of the games, married women.

[4] The games of the maidens too are traced back to ancient times; they say that, out of gratitude to Hera for her marriage with Pelops, Hippodameia assembled the Sixteen Women, and with them inaugurated the Heraea. They relate too that a victory was won by Chloris, the only surviving daughter of the house of Amphion, though with her they say survived one of her brothers.

Question: What would be going through a female athletes mind when she was competing in the games?

Answer: Ancient Athletes were extremely competitive and so competing would be all that was on their mind. Atheletics are relaxing because you forget everything else. And the ancients, being competitive in everything else, had much to forget about.

Question: Which Gods were supposed to watch over the athletes?

Answer: Atheletic competition was as much of a religious ritual as prayer or sacrifice. All the deities were worshipped in this way. Each festival was dedicated to one or more deities who were to take an interest in the events of that festival. Nike, of course, was interested in all the athletic competitions.

Question: was there an olyppic symbol? like the rings that we have now

Answer: Most of the images on the temple of Zeus seem to relate to the labors of Herakles. An image of Herakles might be most useful.

Question: What did the Heraen Games’ stadium look like and where was it?

Answer: The maiden athletes competed in the Olympic stadium itself, although “the course of the stadium is shortened for them by about one-sixth of its length” (Pausanias, 5.16.3).

Question: What equipment did the women who competed in the foot races use?

Answer: At Sparta girls raced in he nude, while at Olympia they raced in tunics. Pausanius called them tunics. The ancient Greek would have called them chitons.

Question: Can you tell me what years the Womens Olympic Games (foot races) were?

Answer: Within the time frame of the ancient Olympics.

Question: How could you recreate the olympic games today?

Answer: Impossible. Athletics are no longer a religious activity.

Question: what events were held at the nemean games and where can i find a map of the nemean games.

The Nemean games were held in July every two years (the second and fourth year of each Olympiad) in honor of Zeus in the plain of Nemea in Argolis. The festival was attended by official representatives (theores) and crowds from all cities of Greece and was preceded by a truce allowing them to travel safely to the festival. It included two parts : the religious festival with processions and sacrifices, and the “games” proper, that is, the sports events and musical contests. The winners would receive a crown of wild celery and be honored as national heroes in their cities.

“They celebrated the Nemean games in his honor; and Adrastus won the horse race, Eteoclus the footrace, Tydeus the boxing match, Amphiaraus the leaping and quoit-throwing match, Laodocus the javelin-throwing match, Polynices the wrestling match, and Parthenopaeus the archery match.” Apollodorus, Library and Epitome 3.6.4.

Question: What did the greeks where to formal parties and such?

Answer: Clean clothes and fine jewelry, unless they were heroes. A lady would wear a peplos. Heroes sometimes attended such events naked.

Question: where women allowed to participate in games of contest of the ancient world?

Answer: Women were allowed to compete in beauty contests, running contests, chorus contests and horse races if they were the owners of the horses.

Question: How did Sparta associate with other Greeks, since they were a landlocked city-state?

Answer: Spartan territory extended to the sea even though the main population centers were landlocked. Sparta maintained a fleet of ships. State messages were delivered by special runners who ran between the city-states. They ran naked and did not need roads. They might run 100 miles in a single day. They were highly regarded and well-paid. The modern marathon was named after one such runner.

Question: how did religion play a role on ancient olympics.

Answer: The ancient Olympics were a religious ceremony to honor Zeus. The ancient Olympics included religious rituals in addition to the athletics.

Question: in what setting did most physical activity come into play for ancient greek women.

Answer: Ancient woman were involved in some very demanding work. Carrying water for the family could be demanding. Washing by hand could be demanding. Grinding grain could be demanding. On the lighter side festivals could be strenuous with dancing and footraces.

Question: What are the main differences between the Ancient olympics and the Panathenaic games?

Answer: The Olympics and the Panathenaic games were separate festivals celebrated in similar ways. The Olympics honored Zeus while the Panathenaic games honored Athena. The Olympics were held in Olympia while the Panathenaic games were held in Athens. Winners of the Olympics were only awarded wreaths of olive leaves, while winners at Athens were awarded large quantities of olive oil in vases, some of which still survive. Dancing and music seem to have played an important role at Athens but not at Olympia.

Question: my question is how long did the ancient olimpic games last for? How were the athletes dressed? What event took place in th hippodrom? How did the event called the marathonrace get its name? How did hitler react to the victories of negro athletes at the berlin games in 1936?

Answer: The Olympic games started as an event that was shorter than a day but later swelled out to an event that was about 5 days. This was for the spectators. The participants arrived 1 or two months ahead and trained and purified themselves until the event.

At first the male athletes wore street clothes but later these were removed and the males performed in the nude. At first it is believed that there were two races, one for young men and one for young women. The winners were the the king and queen of the festival and performed fertility rites. Later the women had there own festival, the Herarea. The women wore a tunic that left their right breast bare.

The Hippodrome held all equestrian events. At Olympia, a full circuit around the Hippodrome was eight stades, or 1,539 meters. The race was run around two turning posts at either end of the level arena. The Hippodrome was divided lengthwise down the middle by an embolon, a wood or stone partition. The horseback competitions included the keles for full-grown horses, the kalpe for mares, and the race for foals. The chariot races included the tethrippon for a four-horsed chariot, a quadrigga, for twelve laps; the apene for two mules pulling a chariot; the synoris for a two-horse chariot, a bigga, for eight laps; the synoris for two foals pulling a chariot for three laps; and the tethrippon for four foals pulling a chariot for eight laps.

The marathon race was not run in the ancient Olympics. The Greek City states depended upon special messengers who would run with messages between cities. They might run as much as 150 miles in one day between several cities. Pheidipides ran to Sparta for help with a coming battle and then back to Athens (150 mi each way). Then he marched to Marathon with the Athenians, and when the battle against Persia was won he ran back to Athens. He announced victory and died. The modern race celebrates the courage of Pheidipides but it is slightly longer than the last leg of his run.

Hitler believed in genetics and he thought the Nordic (white) race was superior. He called the superior race Aryan. The victories by Jessie Owens (4 gold medals) in the 1936 Olympics refuted his claim. There are many anectodes about how unhappy he was and how he expressed his unhappyness. He then turned to the military to prove his point. Because of their Prussian military training the German soldiers were more effective in the field than the soldiers of other nations. But ultimately the German military was defeated as well. Hitler thought that the Greeks were Aryan but now we know that they were from several racial backgrounds. He encouraged his archeologists to study Crete because he thought the ancient people of Crete, the Minoans, were Aryan as well. But now we think the Minoans might have been red men from Africa. The Nordic people of Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland never supported Hitler. Perhaps Hitler commited suicide because he could not stand the idea that the Aryans were not superior. Today the concept of Aryan is not considered to be useful and it is no longer used.

Question: What were the moral and ethical values of physical education in ancient Greece?

Answer: Sport and physical education in ancient Greece was a religious and spiritual practice that was undertaken for the glorification of the gods. It seems that the idea of sport competition arose out of the need at a religious festival for the best, or ideal, young persons to personify the god and goddess who would portray the deities during a fertility festival. Whether these young people actually engaged in sexual intercourse is questionable but there is some indication that they did this to help the crops be fertile. Initially a race was held for the young men and young women separately. The winners would be declared the god and goddess(impersonations of the god and goddess) who would then lead a procession, a festival, and a ceremony at an altar and to a field. Essentially this was a marriage ceremony for this pair. Whether they consumated their marriage is a matter of debate. The suggestion is that the first competition at Olympia was of this sort.

Later, at Olympia before historic times, this was separated into the Olympic Games for men, and the Herarea for women. Both began as footraces. For women it is important to note that this contest evolved into a classic beauty contest as exemplefied by the judgement of Paris. For men the contest evolved many other skills including wrestling and throwing the discus, and other skills of war, music, poetry and even drama. For women the contests never lead to more than a damatization of the goddess by the victor. But for men the contest lead to drama and the modern theater. Oddly the drama involved men portraying gods, goddesses, men and women while the dramatizations involved only women portraying goddesses.

The contests were performed for many deities. The Olympic games were for Zeus and possibly Hera. Zeus was also the god of the Nemean games. Apollo was the god for the Pythian games. Poseidon was the patron of the Isthmian games. Athena was the patroness of the Panathenea.

The participation of men and women in the ceremony together was stopped before historic times but the contests continued at various levels of their evolution even during the Roman period and were stopped only when Rome formally accepted Christianity during the reign of Constantine. In AD 394, Emperor Theodosius of Rome officially abolished the Games. All sorts of religious festivals in ancient Greece including funerals involved athletic contests. During the classical period the activities of the Gymnasium appeared to prepare the individual for the moral life by preparing that individual for the contests during religious ceremonies. It was the connection to religious ceremonies that provided a certain passion to these activities.

Question: So women were only allowed to participate in the olympics during the early Greek time period?

Answer: No. I only know about the Greek time period. I do not know about what happened during Roman times. During the Greek period the involvement of women was minimal. The hetarae were probably spectators even though women were prohibited. There was a woman who dressed as a man and was a trainer. Two other women bred and trained horses that raced in the Olympics. But they were not allowed to drive their horses and could not even witness the race. Atalanta participated in athletic contests like the Olympics but she lived well before the Olympics were officially started. The women may have had their own athletic contests. The women of Sparta completed in this way. The Herarea was held with races for women in Olympia but not at the same time as the Olympics. There is very little information about this event. The worlds of men and women were quite separate. Just as there were events for men only there were events for women only. Writing was more encouraged for men and for this reason we know much more about the events for men than the events for women. Interestingly Greek Drama was part of an event for men only. The dramas that remain contain very interesting historical information. The dramas contain information about women but all from the point of view of a man. The women wrote no corresponding literature. There were women poets, but their writings are scarce in some cases because the ones that preserved the ancient Greek writings were men that cared little for the work of women.

Do you have any more info for heraia im doing a project but i need by april 26th so if you can do it quick thanks. ? ?

April 21, 2016

Jimena

WHY COULDN’T UNMARRIED WOMEN PARTICIPATE IN THE SAME OLYMPICS AND FESTIVAL AS MEN? WHY DID UNMARRIED WOMEN HAVE SEPARATE FESTIVALS AND OLYMPICS AS THE MEN? WHY DID WOMEN HAVE IT SO UNFAIR?!?!??!?!?!?!?!